One of the key aspects to cloud security when protecting your data is Disaster Recovery. When it comes to recovery, it is broken down into two key metrics in continuity planning.

• Recovery Time Objective
• Recovery Point Objective

What is Recovery Time Objective (RTO)?

The RTO is defined by the amount of time it should take to restore any lost data, applications or systems after an outage or accident. This timeframe is usually measured from when the incident occurs to complete recovery.
The idea behind establishing an RTO is to set a goal in order to minimize downtime and disruption in services. This goal is determined by the main question of:
"What is the maximum amount of downtime you can afford?"

What is Recovery Point Objective (RPO)?

RPOs are defined by the point in time in which you restore your data from. For instance, if a company has set an RPO of 8 hours, that typically means a backup of their data is set to occur every 8 hours. In the event of a disaster that results in lost data, that company will only lose 8 hours of new data that was added from the time of backup to the incident.

Key Takeaways for RTO and RPO

Recovery Time Objective

• Used to describe maximum recovery time from point of incident
• Defined before an incident occurs

Recovery Point Objective

• Used to describe maximum amount of data lost
• Defined after an incident occurs
• Dependent upon frequency of backups

Importance of Having a Recovery Solution

As a company, your data is absolutely vital to your operations and losing that data would be a huge problem. This is why having a plan of action and leveraging RTOs and RPOs will not only decrease the after-effects of any downtime but allow you to be more efficient in managing any disasters that may strike.

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